God's Love Comes First

We love because he first loved us.-1 John 4:19

Last night we went to church again, but my daughter is overwhelmed by the vastness of the sanctuary.  It is huge and has lots of screens, so she is freaked out a little by it. I remember when I first went in the sanctuary, I was like "Wow!  This is huge!" So, we didn't get to stay inside the sanctuary, but sat on the benches outside and listened to the service, and waited on brother to get out of children's church.

As we were walking around, we walked past the babies' rooms and I could hear them teaching the babies, "God loves you."  This morning I thought how appropriate that was in regards to teaching New Believers about God. And it is how Jesus demonstrated who God was.

We cannot tell people to love God, which happens all the time, without telling Him how much He loves them first.  They won't know who He is, or how to even love Him, or anybody else.

The Bible says in Hebrews 1:3 "The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God..."  Jesus came to demonstrate God to us. He loved people first, and then they came to love Him. 1 John 4:19 says "We love Him because He first loved us."

It is impossible to tell a New Believer,  or any human that they must love God, without helping them to understand that He, through Jesus, loved them first.  Just like a little baby, they must come to understand "how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is."-Ephesians 3:18 (NLT)